THAPCA-IH Trial

The Therapeutic Hypothermia After Pediatric Cardiac Arrest In-Hospital trial looked at whether therapeutic hypothermia benefited children with in-hospital cardiac arrest after return of circulation.

Design: Randomized, single-blind, parallel-assignment

Patients: 329

Centers: 37

Countries: Canada, United Kingdom, United States

Results: The study was terminated early due to futility. The primary efficacy outcome of survival at 12 months among patients with a score of at least 70 on the VABS-II scale before cardiac arrest did not differ between the groups (hypothermia group, 36%; normothermia group, 39%; RR = 0.92; 95% CI, 0.67-1.27). Change in VABS-II score at 12 months was similar in both groups (P = .7). Overall 1-year survival was 49% in the hypothermia group and 46% in the normothermia group (RR = 1.07; 95% CI, 0.85-1.34).

Original Publications:
Moler FW, et al. N Engl J Med. 2017;doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1610493.

Healio/Cardiology News Coverage:
Therapeutic hypothermia fails to benefit children surviving in-hospital cardiac arrest